Chapter 337: Soul Fusion Secret Art
“Good keen perception.”
The instant Li Weiyi and Luan Sheng Lin You locked eyes across the formation, he immediately fled.
Moments later, Luan Sheng Lin You walked out of the courtyard, followed by Long Ting, Long Xiangcen, Chen Wenwu, and several other figures, preparing to leave the city for the Thirty-Six Tombs of Lei.
Stopping under that ancient plum tree, Luan Sheng Lin You paused and peered up at the branches.
“Young Esteemed One, what’s wrong?” Long Ting asked.
Li Weiyi had been extremely cautious, leaving no traces at all—not even the piled snow on the branches was disturbed.
Luan Sheng Lin You shook his head lightly and smiled. “The white plums on the branches are blooming so beautifully! In the desolation of winter, only it bursts forth with captivating vitality. If one doesn’t stop to appreciate it and just rushes onward, life will surely miss out on much splendor.”
“Am I not prettier than it?”
Long Xiangcen spoke in a coquettish, soft voice, sounding nothing like a renowned successor strong practitioner of twenty years’ fame, but rather like a girl in the first stirrings of love.
“Both are beautiful, each in their own way.”
Luan Sheng Lin You led the group swiftly onward. During the journey, everyone employed their methods—some altered their appearance and figure, others donned masks, or activated talismans to conceal their features and aura.
Li Weiyi stood atop a seven-story bell tower, leaning against a wooden pillar, watching them leave Heaven Pavilion.
He didn’t keep staring, fearing it would alert the enemy again.
“Lu Cangsheng has actually already returned!”
In Li Weiyi’s mind, images of Yin Nine, Yao Yin, Jiang Ning, Zuo Qiu Hong Ting, Shi Shishi, and the others surfaced, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curved upward. He was eager to know about their experiences and stories at Du’e Temple, how far their cultivation had advanced, whether Yao Yin had grown into a great beauty like Yao Qingxuan…
Two years had passed, and Li Weiyi felt an increasingly intense longing in his heart, yet he didn’t know how to face them upon truly reuniting.
As the Fourth Divine Son of the Rice Cult? As the senior disciple of Yao Qingxuan? Or as the crippled, downcast Li Weiyi?
Exhaling, he sighed wistfully.
There would surely be a fierce battle at the Thirty-Six Tombs of Lei, and Li Weiyi was tempted to join the excitement, to see the current cultivation levels of Luan Sheng Lin You, Lu Cangsheng, Long Ting, and the others, and whether there was a chance to eliminate Luan Sheng Lin You and Long Ting.
But reason told him this excitement was bound to be very dangerous.
What gave Luan Sheng Lin You the audacity to come to Leiling City?
What gave him the guts to intercept and kill Lu Cangsheng?
This was a good opportunity to scout that courtyard.
Li Weiyi’s appearance and figure changed rapidly, his skin turning the flawless white of the Pure Immortal Body, instantly transforming into Long Ting’s likeness—elegant and noble, with sharp, cold eyes.
“Swish!”
With one finger pointed at the fourth-rank Hundred Character Artifact invisibility cloak on his body, over four hundred scriptures emerged.
The scriptures retracted, and the robe’s style instantly became what Long Ting had been wearing earlier.
In Long Ting’s likeness, he walked to the courtyard gate.
The formation opened from inside.
“Lord Long Ting, why have you returned again?”
A demon race martial cultivator who had taken the form of a middle-aged man stood respectfully at the gate, asking curiously.
Li Weiyi walked in with hands behind his back, his gaze falling on the area in the southwest corner where coffins were placed, saying as he walked, “The Young Esteemed One is uneasy and sent me back to check once more. To avoid any accidents after we leave.”
There were four demon race martial cultivators left to guard the courtyard.
They wore rune robes that concealed demonic energy and allowed transformation into human form, all experts at the Dao Seed Realm level.
The demon cultivator resembling a middle-aged man followed closely beside him. “Lord Long Ting, rest assured. They’re all undergoing soul merging, and they should awaken in the next two days.”
Li Weiyi was secretly startled. At the Rice Sect Main Altar, he had seen explanations about the soul merging secret technique.
It was a method used by powerful departed spirits of the Nether Realm of the Dead to enter the Mortal World for cultivation, hunting, amusement, or scouting.
They would capture living people and merge their spirit bodies with the victims’ soul spirits, achieving perfect concealment.
The departed spirit’s spirit body strength needed to vastly exceed that of the living person.
If the thirty coffins before him contained the thirty Imperial Court Dao Seed Realm martial cultivators that Luan Sheng Lin You had taken from the Rice Sect Main Altar, then where had he found so many departed spirit experts?
At the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, Luan Sheng Lin You indeed had departed spirits under his command. Later, the Zuo Qiu Gatehouse had investigated and found those departed spirits came from three prefectures in the two hundred and seventy-two states swallowed by the Nether Realm of the Dead a thousand years ago.
Li Weiyi had some understanding of the distribution of Nether Realm of the Dead forces around Lingxiao Life Realm—it was something he learned from Yang Qingchan’s mouth while trapped in the secret treasure vault.
Among them, the former two hundred and seventy-two states were, to Lingxiao Life Realm, the edge area of the Nether Realm of the Dead.
In the former prefectural cities, two hundred and seventy-two ghost cities, malign lairs, and Bone Mansions had been established, and internally they were in constant strife, fighting even more fiercely than in Lingxiao Life Realm.
Qilin Zhuang had either subdued some tycoons of the nether realms and taken them under his command, or cooperated with some of them to jointly attack Lingxiao.
The Far West Ash Region, Nether Realm of the Dead, demon race, Rice Cult—Li Weiyi just thinking about it felt like dark clouds overhead, a suffocating sense of heaven collapse and earth sink.
The thirty coffins before his eyes were merely what the young generation’s Luan Sheng Lin You was responsible for.
What were the demon race’s old guys up to?
No wonder Luan Sheng Lin You dared come to Leiling City—perhaps the demon race had long prepared thoroughly, and Yun Tian Immortal Plain and Lingxiao City were already fish on their chopping board.
“Swish!”
Li Weiyi pushed open one of the coffins.
Yin Sha Qi permeated from within the coffin.
An old man with white hair lay inside, the Yin Sha Qi surging from his ancestral field, with magic energy fluctuations as powerful as a divine drum constantly resounding.
He was an extremely formidable expert of the Imperial Court, at least Dao Seed Realm Sixth Heaven.
Not dead—his heartbeat was active, vitality abundant.
Confirming his suspicions, Li Weiyi’s scalp went numb. Before him were thirty terrifying departed spirit experts. If he startled them and they burst violently from the coffins, the consequences were unimaginable.
He couldn’t act rashly.
Leave first!
Li Weiyi sensed danger, and before he could turn, he detected a sixth person in the courtyard. The extra one stood at the gate.
A faint fragrance reached his nose.
Li Weiyi remained calm amid the change, slowly turning around to look at Long Xiangcen, clad in a rainbow-colored gown.
Much of her snowy white skin was exposed, her arms and legs bare and smooth, utterly oblivious to the winter chill. Her jade fingers propped up her chin as she smilingly sized up “Long Ting” standing by the coffin.
Li Weiyi finally had a chance to closely examine and appraise her.
In terms of beauty, Long Xiangcen combined the immortal grace of the Pure Immortal Body with the demon race’s allure, her figure outstanding, with captivating cleavage, translucent skin, and lush yet neat hair.
Li Weiyi murmured to himself, “It seems I still underestimated Luan Sheng Lin You’s caution and vigilance.”
Long Xiangcen smiled radiantly, her teeth white and lips glossy. “Oh dear, it’s so annoying—why aren’t you scared at all? I thought I could give you a big fright.”
“Which man would fear a beauty? With your beauty, Young Lady Long, I can’t appreciate it enough—it’s never sufficient.” Li Weiyi was no longer the same as before; he could now handle sudden dangers with greater ease and confidence.
Long Xiangcen was amused into laughter, her body trembling with mirth. “Your mouth is so sweet, I almost don’t want to kill you now! You actually know me?”
“Of course, the veteran successor from Dragon Gate!” Li Weiyi said.
Long Xiangcen’s smile vanished instantly, frost covering her face. “I’ll cut your tongue to pieces, one slice at a time.”
The other four demons in the courtyard had noticed something amiss and each retrieved their magic tools, eyes full of hostility as they slowly moved to encircle Li Weiyi.
When “Long Ting” appeared, they had already suspected, but didn’t dare offend.
“Where is Luan Sheng Lin You?” Li Weiyi asked.
Long Xiangcen said, “Am I alone not enough?”
Luan Sheng Lin You wasn’t certain if someone had truly been spying earlier, so he had only sent Long Xiangcen back to check.
“Are you sure you want to act here in Heaven Pavilion, Young Lady Long? If these things here are discovered by Imperial Court people, and the secret of your presence is known to the Imperial Court—you probably won’t escape Leiling City alive!”
Li Weiyi appeared composed, but his nerves were taut, observing the surroundings and seeking a way to breakout.
Who would dare underestimate a successor famous for twenty years?
“You’re so concerned for my safety? You’re not such a bad person!”
Long Xiangcen’s lips curved in a smile as her Dao Heart External Manifestation erupted forth.
Instantly, the entire courtyard was enveloped in crimson magic energy, with heavy demon shadows and dense illusions.
“Boom! Boom…”
The other four demon race experts also released their Dao Heart External Manifestations, layer upon layer pressing down on Li Weiyi.
Like five great mountains falling, myriad chains binding him—Li Weiyi knew this battle was inevitable. Thus, he took out the smiling Buddha golden mask Yao Qingxuan had given him and put it on to conceal his power fluctuations.
Seeing the mask, surprise flickered in Long Xiangcen’s eyes. “So it’s you—interesting. It seems Zuo Ning isn’t your true face either. Who exactly are you?”
On the post ship, Li Weiyi had worn this mask.
Long Xiangcen was knowledgeable and saw that Li Weiyi was wearing the mask now to conceal his power aura.
Li Weiyi didn’t want to fight here—many of his techniques couldn’t be used, too restricted. As long as he could breakout and draw Taishi Bai here, he could deal a heavy blow to the demon race.
Five strands of mind power pressed down, trying to directly suppress him to his knees.
“Boom!”
Li Weiyi formed a finger seal, and mind power spiritual light exploded outward, blocking the mind attacks of the five experts.
The five-layered Dao Heart External Manifestations still weighed on him, suppressing his power, speed, and reactions, like being imprisoned in a mud swamp.
From the left, a Dao Seed Realm Fourth Heaven demon race expert swung dual battle axes in a cleaving strike.
Countless scriptures emerged on the axe blades, releasing dazzling radiant light.
Li Weiyi dodged back a step, evading one axe, and raised his palm to slap the other.
“Thud!”
Golden Crow Flame wrapped his palm, magic energy surging within his body. His palm force was mighty, issuing a metallic clang.
That Dao Seed Realm Fourth Heaven demon cultivator had thought Li Weiyi was a mind master, never expecting such formidable palm force, striking a magic tool barehanded. He couldn’t hold the axe, his five fingers aching as if splitting.
The battle axe flew out.
“Thud!”
He was sent flying by Li Weiyi’s kick, smashing the distant lapis lazuli octagonal pavilion to pieces.
Li Weiyi was very curious just how strong his pure martial way combat power was now and had long wanted to test it on someone. Unfortunately, he temporarily dared not use Dao Heart External Manifestation—doing so would expose the dragon seed in his wind palace. Nor did he dare use the blood handprint demonic armor…
In short, he was restricted.
“Who would’ve thought—not only is your mind power impressive, your martial way cultivation is so strong too. People like you are rare.”
Long Xiangcen moved slowly forward, closely observing the clash between Li Weiyi and the four demon race experts. With a thought,
Instantly, the phantoms in her Dao Heart External Manifestation solidified into countless demon cultivators, their killing cries shaking the heavens, surging forth to engulf Li Weiyi.
“Swish!”
The Myriad Staff Spear flew out from the ancestral field, and Li Weiyi activated it with spiritual light.
With a boom, the ten-foot war spear swung out, crimson flames blazing, flipping away all the illusions and the four demon race experts. Two of the demon race experts had blood spurting from their bodies, their flesh torn by the spear tip, defenses broken.
Li Weiyi formed a finger seal, opening the Heavenly Eye at his brow.
